


Fading Soul

by Coconut_of_Doom



Series: The Souls [5]
Category: Dark Souls (Video Games), Dark Souls III
Genre: Death, Fantasy, Gen, Inspired by Dark Souls (Video Game), One Shot, Sad, Sad Ending, Short One Shot, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:26:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24887554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coconut_of_Doom/pseuds/Coconut_of_Doom
Summary: A soul, fading alone on its own.
Series: The Souls [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1783663
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	Fading Soul

Long has the body been undisturbed on this lonely street of Lothric.

Rotting, aging, smelling, decaying.

First the skin bloated and then whittled away into the bone.

The blood dried in his very veins.

The eyes were long pecked out by the crows.

His weapons having been scavenged by the thieves that plagued Lothric.

Thieves such as the master of them all, Greirat.

Then, his armor began to rust and break.

The helmet's visor fell apart after the many years of isolation and neglect.

The iron bits of the suit decayed and became brittle, diminishing to the point that a single poke would send it flying away as dust in the breeze.

The insignia of the kingdom he served decayed over the many years, until the paint itself was ill recognizable.

The warrior's identity was unknown.

How long he has been here was unknown.

Whether he was truly a man or instead a woman was unknown.

But what was true was that the only thing left of him was a thin soul, one that remained in his bosom for the longest of times.

It burned within, waiting to be absorbed or swallowed by passersby.

But no one wanted it.

The hollows took no notice.

The thieves didn't take an interest in such petty sounding concepts.

And warriors who passed by the body never looked upon it, unknowingly avoiding the value that lay within.

Over the years of its neglect and slumber, it decayed.

The value it held for its former owner diminished.

The very light of the soul dimmed.

The essence of what it was burned out, and it was as if the soul itself was hollowing as well.

A slow, deadly process was occurring.

The soul was fading.

What it represented.

Who it championed.

What the soul meant to onlookers.

Everything the soul was to be.

Fading away like the memories of a hollowing human.

Soon, the soul would become nothing.

Like its long dead, long hollowed owner, it was undergoing a drastic change.

A change where the very essence of its previous owner will fade, and then ultimately disappear.

It'll be as if he had never existed in the first place, the only mark of his existence being the dried up corpse he left behind.

Many feared hollowing.

But an equal number feared disappearing entirely.

Perhaps the soul could find purpose where the vessel could not.

But there was no way to find one with it being trapped within its decrepit prison.

So there it sat, doomed to fade away into nothingness.

The years passed by.

The days turned into nights.

The months burned by.

Each second the soul weakened.

And eventually it would become like its vessel.

Forgotten.

One day, a pair of travelers happened upon the body.

One of them a knight from the land of Astora.

The other a knight clad in black armor, and wielding a mighty halberd.

The knight of Astora stopped when she noticed the corpse.

"Horace…" She called out to her traveling companion, stopping him in his tracks.

He turned about, and watched her approach the corpse.

Slowly she advanced on it, wary that it could come to life any moment and attack her.

Much like most of the hollows in the city; lying in wait for their next human victim.

Kneeling, she looked the body over.

A small sigh followed as she realized this body is an old ruin of what was once a possibly noble and brave warrior.

But there was something else that drew her attention.

A feeling that drew her to notice the old corpse in the first place.

A sensation that all Unkindled felt when near a source of strength.

She could feel the soul resonating to her from within.

Like a warm ember, she was drawn to it.

As if it were noble ash itself.

"There's something here, Horace…." She noted quietly, eliciting a grunt from her silent companion.

The quiet knight approached her as she leaned forward, taking something within her grasp.

He looked over her shoulder, watching as she beheld the small, dim light in her metal plated hands.

She was in disbelief, looking between the soul and the body, and confused how such an old looking corpse was able to still possess a soul such as the one she held.

It was dim.

And it was small.

As if it were in its final stages of life, all alone on its own.

Horace grunted, gaining her attention as she looked up at him.

She held the soul out to him, and he gazed upon it in equal confusion.

"What a petite soul…." The knight of Astora noted to her friend.

For in her hands, she cradled a Fading Soul.

**Author's Note:**

> Just some interesting facts about this chapter in The Souls series:
> 
> 1). This one was by far the hardest Soul story to come up with, and one I've been eager to do all the same.
> 
> 2). It went through a total of three versions before this one was settled upon, and I gotta say, I like it this way.
> 
> 3). Anri and Horace were shoehorned in at the last second, I will admit. It just kinda came to me as I was writing this final version out, and I am IN LOVE with the end result of it.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed. :D


End file.
